Best Shovel Enchantments

Every shovel enchantment, ranked

Enchantment	Max	Verdict	Why
Fortune	III	Max build	More flint from gravel.
Silk Touch	I	Alternative	Collects grass blocks, mycelium and snow. Excludes Fortune, so you pick one.
Efficiency	V	Max build	Digs much faster.
Unbreaking	III	Max build	Part of every max shovel.
Mending	I	Max build	Part of every max shovel.
Curse of Vanishing	I	Avoid	A curse: it only makes the item worse.

What matters on a shovel

The shovel digs dirt, sand, gravel, clay, snow and soul sand. Efficiency V is the book that matters, because it turns those blocks into near-instant digging. Unbreaking III and Mending keep the shovel going through big terraforming jobs.

In Java, Efficiency V breaks dirt, sand and gravel instantly with any shovel while you stand on the ground. That is why terraformers love it.

Fortune or Silk Touch is the side choice. Silk Touch collects grass blocks, mycelium, podzol, clay blocks and snow blocks as themselves. Fortune mainly raises flint from gravel.

Builds for different playstyles

Terraforming shovel

Efficiency V, Silk Touch, Unbreaking III and Mending. You keep grass blocks and mycelium intact for landscaping.

Flint shovel

Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III and Mending. With Fortune III, gravel always drops flint, so this shovel feeds your arrow needs and fletcher trades.

Snow and clay

Silk Touch matters here too. Without it, snow blocks drop snowballs and clay drops clay balls; with it, you keep the blocks.

Sand and concrete powder

Plain Efficiency V is enough. Neither sand nor concrete powder cares about Fortune or Silk Touch.

Conflicts and which one to pick

Java 26.3 has 1 conflict on the shovel: Fortune with Silk Touch. An anvil refuses a book that clashes with an enchantment already on the item, so decide before you start.

Fortune or Silk Touch

Silk Touch for landscaping, Fortune only for a flint shovel. Most players take Silk Touch, because grass and mycelium are hard to collect otherwise.

Each enchantment on the shovel

Fortune III

Fortune gives extra drops from ores, crops and some other blocks. At level III that means up to 4× ore drops, about 2.2× on average. More flint from gravel. The book costs 6 levels on a fresh shovel. More about Fortune.

Efficiency V

Efficiency makes tools mine faster. At level V that means +26 mining speed. Digs much faster. The book costs 5 levels on a fresh shovel. More about Efficiency.

Unbreaking III

Unbreaking gives items a chance to not lose durability when used. At level III that means tools skip 75% of durability loss, armor 30%. The book costs 3 levels on a fresh shovel. More about Unbreaking.

Mending

Mending repairs an item with experience orbs. At level I that means each experience point you pick up repairs 2 durability. The book costs 2 levels on a fresh shovel. More about Mending.

The numbers behind the build

A netherite shovel has 2031 durability. Unbreaking III skips three out of four durability losses on average, so it lasts about 8124 uses instead of 2031. Mending repairs 2 durability per experience point, so a full repair from almost broken takes about 1016 points. That is roughly the XP needed to go from level 0 to level 26. With both books, each point of experience pays for about 8 uses.

Efficiency V adds 26 mining speed, the biggest jump of any level because the bonus grows with the square of the level. That is the difference between a tool that drags and one that breaks its blocks almost on click.

Where to get the books

You need 4 books for this build. Mending is a treasure enchantment, so the enchanting table won't give it. Plan to trade or loot for it first. Here is where each one comes from:

• Fortune III: the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults, random chest loot and fishing.
• Efficiency V: the enchanting table, librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults, random chest loot and fishing.
• Unbreaking III: the enchanting table, librarian villagers, random chest loot and fishing.
• Mending: librarian villagers, trial chamber vaults, random chest loot and fishing.

Librarians are the most reliable source for exact books, because you can reroll them until they offer the one you want. The trading hall guide shows how, and the villager trade tool lists the prices. Combine the books in the cheapest anvil order so no step becomes too expensive.

Put a shovel in the enchanting table and it can roll Fortune, Silk Touch, Efficiency and Unbreaking. Mending never shows up there on a shovel, so that one comes from books only. The enchanting table calculator shows the odds for each slot.

Which books to get first

Every shovel book except Mending comes from the enchanting table, so roll a diamond shovel early. Efficiency is one of the most common results, and it is the one you need.

Add Mending once you have it, and choose Silk Touch or Fortune last.

Gold shovels dig fastest of all but break almost at once. So a diamond or netherite shovel with Efficiency V is the better long-term tool.

Which material to enchant

Put your best books on a netherite shovel: it has the most durability (2031), so every enchantment lasts longest, and it also survives lava. The golden shovel has the highest enchantability (22), so it rolls the best results at an enchanting table, but it wears out fast. Enchantments stay on when you upgrade diamond gear to netherite at a smithing table, so you can enchant diamond first and upgrade later.

Netherite has 2031 durability against diamond's 1561, about 30% more. Copper is the cheap middle step: 190 durability, against 250 for iron, with enchantability 13. It is fine for a first enchant, but don't spend treasure books on it. Gold rolls the best table enchantments (22 enchantability) yet has only 32 durability, so it suits throwaway gear.

Mistakes to avoid

• Using a Silk Touch shovel on gravel when you want flint. Silk Touch always gives gravel.
• Spending a Mending book on a shovel before your pickaxe. The pickaxe gets far more use.
• Forgetting Unbreaking. Big digging projects wear a shovel down fast.
• Making dirt paths with your best shovel. Each path costs durability.

Shovel enchantment questions

Every enchantment a shovel can take in Java 26.3: Fortune, Silk Touch, Efficiency, Unbreaking, Mending.

See also the full list of incompatible enchantments and the god gear command generator.

Cheapest order

Combining these books in the wrong order can cost twice as many levels or hit Too Expensive! The cheapest order for the max shovel costs 23 levels in 4 steps, with no step above 8. So you never need more than 8 levels at once.

Spend the levels step by step as you earn them: that costs about 291 experience points in total. If you saved up to level 23 first, you would need 751 points, because each level costs more XP the higher you climb. Afterwards the shovel has been on the anvil 3 times, so later repairs start at a penalty of 7.

See every step

Other gear

• Full armor set
• Helmet
• Chestplate
• Leggings
• Boots
• Elytra
• Sword
• Axe
• Spear
• Mace
• Trident
• Bow
• Crossbow
• Pickaxe
• Hoe
• Fishing Rod
• Shears
• Brush
• Flint and Steel
• Shield
• Carrot on a Stick
• Warped Fungus on a Stick